Icarus (Nebulous)
by Nebula the Starwing
Summary: There's only so much you can see from the ground, and Stardust has grown tired of just observing the heavens from below. Today... Stardust seeks out his true identity up above.


_Icarus - Nebulous_

 **-X-**

"STARDUST- *huff* _SLOW DOWN_!" Clay flapped harder and harder each wingbeat in an effort to catch up to the ever ascending Stardust, who seemed to be on a mission to fly ever higher.

Ever since Stardust got the hang of flying, he's absolutely loved every minute of it. The rush of wind underneath him, the clouds moistening his scales as he barrels through them, and Pyrrhia beneath him growing smaller and smaller… Every flight was an experience he savored.

With this however, comes a common problem with young dragonets who love flying: getting lost in the clouds. Clay, sharing the love of flying with him, often accompanied Stardust, teaching him the landscape and tribe borders (albeit often changing, due to new towns and disputes of border claims between tribes) to better equip him.

Although most of the time they just ended up gazing below wordlessly, the past few times Stardust started to climb higher and higher without even seeming winded. Even the most experienced High Altitude Flyers would falter reaching the heights that Stardust did, when Stardust seemed to reach _ever higher._ And of course, thusly worrying Clay as he could barely keep up.

"STAR- *huff* DUST- *huff* STOP…!"

Stardust however, entering thinner air, could only hear a faint buzzing beneath him. The familiar sensation of gravity growing weaker, the air in his lungs cold and crisp, his wingbeats easier and slower: he'd entered the atmosphere. Here, gravity was only half the pull, the air was thin but fresh, and most of all, you could see the stars and celestial bodies above crystal clear.

The three moons circling, the sun, the field of stars above, and the faint outline of the galaxy all visible, and in fact, brighter than ever. This sight alone brought Stardust to these cold and harsh heights in the sky, and alone, he could spend hours on end up there.

'I wish I could live up here forever…'

He knew no one else could reach these heights, thus leaving him a solitude only meant for him. It did get lonely after a bit though, and after a few seconds, he remembered his home on the mountain, and got a bit homesick. Suddenly he remembered he wasn't alone.

Except… now he was. Looking below, he called to his chaperone who had vanished.

" _ **CLAY**_!"

Searching around in mid air, he spotted a small figure in the distance, falling through the open skies seemingly unconscious. Stardust barreled down in a frenzy vying to get to Clay before the ground did. Latching onto him, arms wings and all, Stardust tried to slap him around to wake him up.

"CLAY, WAKE UP DANG IT!" No avail however. The best he could get was a flutter of the eyelids and a half conscious mumble.

The ground kept growing closer, and in a panic Stardust put his head to Clay's; wherein, he did everything he could to rattle around and jolt his brain awake.

'WAKE UP WAKE UP!

 _WAKE UP_!

 **WAKE**!

 _ **UP!"**_

After the two pulled back, Clay, wild eyed and totally startled now, gasped for breath and stared at Stardust confused and panicked.

"STARDUST, HOW- _WHAT_ -?"

Stardust simply turned Clay around to look at the incoming flat marsh land. "NO TIME, WINGS, **NOW**!"

The MudWing Kingdom greeted them warmly, the mud pits and mangroves and delta streams near by all growing in size rapidly. The two promptly began screaming, realizing they'd have to make a crash landing.

" **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-** "

The two caught the wind under their wings and pulled up at the last moment, not soon enough to avoid making a hard crash landing in a rather deep mud pit. The two skidded all the way across, and both ran into a huge fallen mangrove tree with a solid THUNK.

"Oww!" "Agh!"

Clay and Stardust blacked out after hitting the tree, and lay there in the mud for a few minutes. The two then awoke sitting up with a soft groan, covered in rather warm mud. Stardust shook it off and rubbed his head.

"Urgh… Clay, you alright…?"

Clay, then sat up besides Stardust with a rather goofy and sleepy smile, smacking his lips/maw. "Sore, confused, but muddy. And muddy makes everything alright.~" Clay pulled Stardust into the mud again and snuggled his son gently. "You okay?"

Stardust laughed along, getting nice and coated just for fun. "Yeah, I'm okay! Glad you're okay too.~"

The two laid there, exhausted and happy. Clay rested besides Stardust and curiously looked over to him. "Hey Star?"

He glanced back over with a smile on his mug. "Yeah?"

"What was that…" Clay reached for words as he tried to express what he felt in his head. "... _Connection_ thing you did in my head? I felt us press heads together and then it was like you were _IN_ my mind and…" Clay's gaze fell back to Stardust. "...How?"

Stardust shrugged and looked up to the sky. "I dunno… Just kinda happens. It's like a direct link to another dragon's mind, no words but just pure thought and emotion." Looking back, Clay seemed impressed.

"Cool…" He drew forwards and almost touched heads with Stardust. "I wonder…"

As the two connected again, their minds met in the astral-like head space once more. Clay, intrigued, was met with a floating vision of Stardust.

'Can you hear me?' The Mudwing thought out to Stardust, who promptly nodded and responded in kind.

'Sure can!' In the inky blackness, a few faint pictures of memories lingered in the air. This gave him an idea. 'Ooh! Watch _this.~_ '

Stardust gathered his mental capacity and as he thought harder, vast swaths of memories and emotion in physical form swirled around him; as he let go of his breath, they faded away.

Clay floated there, dumbfounded and amazed. He gathered himself together again, and using every bit of raw emotion and power, did his utmost to summon his memories and emotions like he did. He even tried moving his arms to direct it and such.

However he just floated there with nothing happening. Glancing around, he noticed Stardust about to bust out laughing.

'Ah well. Worth a shot.~' Clay thought in response to Stardust, who made him smile out of fatherly pride. Around them, a few prominent memories of Stardust from Clay's perspective flew around them. Enthralled once more, he reached out to touch them, raw emotional power flowing through him with each touch.

Startled but touched, he pulled his head back and broke the connection. Clay, shook his head a bit and blinked. "Woah…"

Stardust smiled and nosed his dad lovingly. Clay nosed his head in return and sighed.

"Mm… Love ya Stardust." Stardust, muffled by mud and his dad's scales, mumbled back: "Luff chu tooo!"

The two lounged there until the sun started to set behind the nearby sand dunes of the west. Promptly, they washed off and set for home.

 **-X-**

" **YOU** _ **W H A T"**_

Tsunami sat in her "Office" with Clay and Stardust. Some nights, Tsunami's livid yelling would echo down the spacious stone hallways of Jade Mountain and wake the tired tenants of the academy. Tonight was no exception

Stardust tried appealing to the enraged SeaWing. "It was my fault Tsunami, I went too high-"

Only to be interrupted by Clay: "I didn't stop him when I should have, plus I had a heavy meal-"

Stardust interjected again: "But still! It's more my fault than hi-"

Clay stamped his forepaw and glanced to Stardust. "I'm the adult here, I should've taken better care-"

"AHEM."

The two turned to Tsunami, who still seemed rather miffed.

"How about, you _both_ agree that you were boneheads, and _both_ take the blame _**equally**_ instead of trying to be the better dragon and take it all for yourselves?" Tsunami's tone indicated obvious anger, but with more subtle and caring undertones after seeing the two so purely fighting to be blamed. "Because either way, you're both getting cleaning duty for a _whole month_."

Stardust and Clay exchanged glances, and nodded in unison.

"Sounds fair." "Alright then."

Tsunami, rather confused by their total lack of negative reactions, just regarded them with an odd look. Clay instilled Stardust with his pure and rather pacifist morals, which Stardust took as gospel. Along with that, Stardust picked up many traits of Clay's in terms of personality and moral character. The two, side by side, seemed like the same dragon sometimes. Tsunami had also rubbed off on Stardust, giving him the fiery passion and curiosity he'd always carried with him.

Seeing this in the two of them made her oddly proud, frustrated, suspicious, confused, a tad happy too, but mostly just… tangled emotionally. I'd describe that in the look on her snout, but it's easier just to let you imagine that for yourself.

She pawed forwards and sat closer to them. "Look… Usually I'm angry when you two pull stupid stuff like that." With the staunch fury of a disciplinarian she jabbed a talon at them both. "AND I STILL AM."

Tsunami sighed and softened her gaze. "But… I can't stay mad for long. Especially you Stardust, I know you didn't mean anyone harm."

Stardust smiled shyly to himself and looked up to Tsunami. Clay glanced down warmly with a proud little smirk on his snout. Tsunami prodded back to Clay.

"But YOU!" Pointing her talon back at Clay, she made herself a bit more angry. "Next time I'M flying WITH you two to make sure you don't fall out of the sky, and ensure there's no _crash landings_." Clay, smiling to himself, conceded to her demands as he put his paws up in cooperation.

"Okaaaay, okay... But be warned, you're gonna get muddy.~" The two rapscallions giggled and bumped each other. Tsunami rolled her eyes, but steeled herself in seriousness again.

"But seriously though… Stardust," She turned back to him. "Please be more careful… I know you're different than us, and you can…" She struggled for words and spoke more concisely. "...do different… stuff… but you have to keep in mind our limitations too, okay?"

Stardust, mulling over this, nodded and looked back up to her. Tsunami continued. "On your own, I encourage you to explore this, but PLEASE! ...please be careful…" She graced the side of his cheek with her tender paw. "You have so much potential, and I want to see it fulfilled but at no cost of your own sake. Okay?"

Stardust smiled again and nodded. "Okay."

Tsunami nodded with a faint smile. "Okay. NOW THEN" She clapped her talons together. "Who's taking the night cleaning?"

Clay pointed to Stardust, putting his paw down and whistling when Stardust looked to him. Stardust headbutted his father figure and groaned.

"Daaaaa-aaaaad… Can you do it tonight? I promise I'll do it tomorrow night!"

Clay, at first trying to be serious and firm, soon collapsed in a pile of smiles and affectionate hugging around Stardust. "Rrrrrrr alriiight... But you get on to sleep, okay? You can go fly around some more tomorrow."

Stardust churred into Clay's neck and nodded again. "Yay! Thank you daaaad!" He rose up and gave Tsunami a good squeeze, soon after getting squeezed even harder with an added noogie by Tsunami.

"Mmmmmmfh! Love you Starbutt! Get some shuteye, alright?"

"Starbutt" giggled to himself. "Yes Ma, night!"

Stardust quietly exited the room, leaving Clay and Tsunami alone. The silence only left gazes between the two.

"Tsunami," Clay placed himself besides the SeaWing. "I'm a little worried about Stardust…"

Tsunami looked out the window and sighed. "Yeah… Me too."

Clay flopped over on the ground and covered his snout. "He's almost as big as us now… barely been a year… He's smart, talented, loving and kind and I couldn't be prouder but…" In his pause, he flopped over onto his stomach and sat up some.

"What if he needs something we can't give him?"

Tsunami fiddled with a chain of pearls mother had given her, enchanted by Anemone for protection.

"Then we give him all the rest we can. Remember that cave we were stuck in for like… six years?"

Clay shuddered and covered his head. "Don't remind me…"

Tsunami laid besides Clay. "Kestrel, Webs, Dune… they were just trying to do their best, right? They were trying to raise us with what they could? I mean, at least Webs..."

Clay chortled and glanced at Tsunami. "Are you REALLY trying to compare us with Kestrel and Dune? Really?"

Tsunami smiled and shook her head. "Oh moons no, but... Just…" Tsunami glanced to Clay with a thoughtful look. "I think we shouldn't worry about what we can't give him, but rather focus on what we can. You know?"

Clay thought it over with himself, and replied with a contented expression. "Yeah, I know. And we're not raising him in a cave, and he has a huge family who loves him too… Much better than what we had, right?"

Tsunami smiled. "Right.~"

The two scooted closer together, side by side. Clay nudged her gently. "You're a great mom by the way. Even if he has three more of them."

Tsunami playfully hit Clay with her wing. "Well hey, he's only got two dads, and Starflight barely counts as it is!"

Clay responded in kind. "Why does he barely count? You've known him your whole life!"

Tsunami laughed and pushed him back. "Because he's Starflight!"

They tussled and laughed for a bit, enjoying each other's company. Clay sat up first, shaking the dust off him.

"Mmfh… Well, better get on that cleaning then." He started out the room.

"You better!" Tsunami whapped him on his hindquarters with her tail, like she always did when being bossy and such in a cheeky manor.

Clay turned around and peered back at Tsunami. "You did not.~"

Tsunami stood back up in a prowling position. "I just did.~~"

Clay stalked her around the room, giddily reminded of younger days. "You wanna go sis? You wanna go?~"

"Oh I'm ready to go mudboy.~" Tsunami pounced on Clay early, the two wrestling about just for the heck of it, in the dead of night with the rest of the mountain asleep.

A few minutes later, Peril, rubbing sleep from her eyes with her wing, peeks in. "What's all the ruckus?"

Clay, with one of Tsunami's fins in his mouth, and Tsunami with Clay's leg in hers, froze up awkwardly.

"...erm…" Confused, Peril rubbed her eyes again. "Am I… Interrupting something?"

Clay spat her fin out and stepped out of the cave regally, pretending nothing had just happened. "No, just doing grown up stuff. Not wrestling at all. Gonna go do some cleaning, because reasons."

Sticking his head back in, he nosed Peril's nose with a smile. "Be with you in an hour or so. Love you honey nut.~"

Peril smiled and nosed him back. "Love you mudpie.~"

As Clay sauntered out, Peril looked to Tsunami with a knowing smile. "Did you whap him?"

Tsunami giggled to herself. "Oh yeah. Never knew why, but it always gets him riled up."

Peril arches an eyebrow. "Definitely.~ Anyways, night Tsunami!"

Tsunami waved and smiled. "Night Peril!" She promptly blew out her candlelight and went to sleep.

 **-X-**

Stars. Millions of them. An entire galaxy just waiting and watching constantly, disguised by the milky blue waters of the atmosphere.

Stardust, after having done his cleaning for the morning, took off somewhere above the RainWing Kingdom before dawn, and reached new heights than he ever had before. The air froze his lungs but he didn't care, the blue sea around him churned black and ink-like as he rose higher, but it pushed him onward still.

'Higher, almost there.'

The world grew smaller below him, climbing high above the wispy Cirrus clouds that graced the shell protecting the world. Land and Ocean turned into colors on a map, Pyrrhia looking startlingly like… Well a dragon.

'Huh… Cool.'

Stardust's head cocked back to the void above. Every wingbeat thrusted him higher, every determined wingbeat becoming easier and easier, pushing him forwards less and less. Until…

The air in his lungs almost provided nothing to sustain him, the lack of atmosphere didn't help keep in heat, barely thick enough to even push against. He stood still in the air, his head getting faint.

'Maybe I shouldn't, I can barely breathe anymore. What if I can't turn back…?'

Stardust's wings drew back, hesitant to push forwards once more. After a moment of thought, he closed his eyes and pushed his wings forwards, falling back to the planet.

Slowly he fell back a few feet...

Only to summon his power and blast back into the aetherium with a great thrust of his wings, propulsing him into the void. The last of the air left his lungs, his scales suddenly frosted over and his head grew dizzy.

'Can't breathe… Can't see…'

The rainbow dragon hung in the emptiness, the stars and galaxies decorating the void, another star joining them as he sped through space.

Stardust curled up to conserve his body heat, but it only rapidly faltered as it bled into the cold darkness. His lungs burst inside, begging for air that didn't exist around him, and only drove him to the brink of unconsciousness.

'Must… Stay awake!'

As he teetered on the brink of blacking out, he felt the light of the sun rising over the planet as dawn. Rays of holy warmth struck his scales and reflected in every color imaginable. With every ray, he felt consciousness flood back to him. Barely able to move, he used the last of his energy to spread his wings out wide, absorbing as much of the sun's rays as he could.

The moment the rays of the great luminary struck his wings, his vision cleared and his head grew clear. The strain of his lungs eased into… Oddly nothing. Instinctively, he wanted to pull air into lungs, but nothing came in. But besides that, he felt energy flowing through him as if the sun's rays were providing everything he needed. His belly felt renewed, his muscles soothed, and his entire body was alive with vigor.

He attempted to shout for joy, however due to the lack of oxygen, nothing came out. He flapped his wings, but again, no air, nothing to push against. He struggled to move, but instead floated off in his continuous motion. Wriggling and turning around in the blackness, he had done nothing to change his trajectory one bit.

By this time, Stardust started to panic. 'C'mon wings, _WORK_ '

No amount of flapping or wriggling changed his motion, he ever so slowly kept drifting away from the planet. Nearly on the verge of breaking down, he shut his eyes tight and concentrated with all that he had. Charging whatever energy he could, he faced the sun.

' _CMON!_ _ **MOVE**_ _!_ "

All the power concentrated inside him built up an ethereal thrum of energy, getting louder and higher, until Stardust shot off instantly, with a resounding, percussive shockwave into the sun.

(Insert Star Trek-esque warp sound effect)

Well not INto, the sun, but towards it, stopping just short of entering the zone that'd burn him alive. Travelling hundreds of miles in less than a second, he hung in the air scrambling and totally thrown off guard, having no idea of what he just did.

'W O A H'

He stood totally still and suspended, the sun's rays now brutal. Stardust felt his scales heating up, the light nearly blinding him.

'hot _hot_ _**hOT**_ '

With eyes clenched shut, he turned away from the sun and aimed himself in the opposite direction and concentrated again; this time shooting off in that direction almost instantly, the whir and percussive shockwave four times as fast.

(Insert another sci fi warp sound)

This time, upon leaving warp, Stardust glanced around to see he was out of danger, but now totally out of sight of the planet.

'Oops… too far.'

His scales felt cold, the warmth from the sun leaving his body. Slowly but surely, his head grew light and faint.

' _Way too far._ '

Stardust hurriedly scanned the stars for a blue/green dot shining brighter than the rest. The technicolor stars all melted into each other, none looking any different. The blurrier his vision, the harder it was to distinguish the void from the stars.

'Where are you?!'

Finally, as the galaxy began to fade into darkness, a bright star followed by a blue dot seemed to pop out.

'Home!'

Gathering up the rest of whatever strength he had left, a soft whir permeated the space around them while he struggled to stay awake. He felt his consciousness slip, the dark of space finally peering in his mind.

Upon opening his eyes, Stardust floated between the three moons, familiarity bringing a sense of ease again.

'Phew… Made it.' He whirled around and let out his wings to catch the sunlight, letting him get his energy back. While he stayed there and soaked up the sun, he noticed the gravity of one of the moons pulled him closer, growing more and more as he fell faster and faster. He was still too weak to resist.

'Awe man…' Stardust, falling faster and faster, finally crash landed onto the moon, much softer than his last one on Pyrrhia. Upon landing, he sat up and shook off the yellow dust from his scales.

As he glanced around, he took note of the fascinating terrain around him. No atmosphere, no vegetation, simply a powdery, yellow, cratered surface. And looking up in the distance, two other planets orbited around him. Oddly enough, from far away the three moons all looked the same; but from standing on one and looking up, they all were a different color. Stardust glanced below, seeing yellow space dust covering the moon he stood on, and looking above to the others, another shone a deep blue while the other glared orange/red.

'Weird... but still fascinating.' Twisting his head 90° to the left, he was met by a familiar looking sight. Floating in front of him was the planet he grew up on, and directly facing him, Pyrrhia; a very awesome sight, and one he savored.

'Ho dude. _That's so cool._ '

Stardust felt his neck for the pouch of small enchanted items he and Turtle kept around. He picked out a small locket, and opened it with the outside of it pointed down. On the outside of the front cover, he pressed his forefinger pad to a little indentation.

'Turtle, guess where I am!'

 **-X-**

History class was NOT a favorite for many at the academy. Turtle seemed to tolerate it better than most others however, simply because he wasn't asleep like the other 75% were. As Webs explained the agricultural methods of IceWings though, even he began to falter.

His head was about to hit the stone floor when the locket in his pouch started clicking, forcing his head up and clutching it closely. A voice started echoing in his head.

'Turtle, it's me!'

Realizing it was Stardust, Turtle sat up and raised his hand.

Webs sighed and looked to Turtle.

"Yes, Turtle?"

Turtle swayed his tail nervously. "I uhm… I gotta go relieve myself…"

Webs squinted suspiciously. "Didn't you go earlier?"

Turtle flushed red, almost purple considering the green shading. "It's an… Emergency."

Webs threw his head back and groaned. "Alright, but don't take too long! This stuff is important!" In all honesty, it really wasn't.

Turtle nodded and dashed off out of sight, opening the locket and putting his forefinger paw to the indentation.

'I'm here! What happened? Is it an emergency?!'

Turtle eagerly looked through center of the locket. Stardust had the idea that two lockets could be made, enchanted to allow people to talk mind to mind when in contact with them. The inside of the locket, being blank, would come up with a clear view of what the backside of the locket was pointed at, like a window to where the other user was. As Turtle opened it up, he was puzzled by the yellow powdery ground.

'No, it's not but… boy, do I have something to show you!'

Turtle was about to respond still confused as before, but he was cut short Stardust, and by the view changing to a black, starry void that seemed incredibly clear; impossible to be this clear from the ground. Where was he?

And then… He pointed the locket to the planet, Pyrrhia in clear view.

Turtle closed the locket, confounded by what he saw. He rubbed his eyes and opened it again. Yep, still there.

He closed the locket again and went further away from the classroom. He ran outside to the nearby stream, and opened it once more, Stardust holding the locket with him in view, so Turtle saw both him and the planet.

'So?~ What'cha think?~'

Stardust could tell from the otherside that Turtle wasn't only thinking but rather yelling out loud.

' _**YOURE ON THE MOON?!**_ '

Stardust bust out laughing, silently albeit. 'Yep! Turns out I can fly in space too!'

Turtle, not knowing what to think, stuttered and tried forming coherent sentences, emphasis on tried.

'BUT WH- THATS _NOT_ \- STARDUST WHER- _HOW_ DID YOU-'

Stardust aimed the locket around to the other moons. 'I just decided to take the leap today. I learned just now that I don't need to breathe when the sun's rays are hitting my wings! It's just… feeding me all the energy I need.' Aiming the locket back to him, Stardust shrugged, looking extremely pleased with himself. 'I'm fine, I promise.'

NOW Turtle could form coherent sentences. ' **BUT WHAT IF YOU DIDN'T**?! C-COULDN'T?! Couldn't? Weren't? Didn't- WHAT IF YOU HAD _DIED_?! ALONE AND FLOATING IN SPACE AND WE'D HAVE NO WAY TO GET TO YOU! PERIL AND TSUNAMI WOULD'VE HAD OUR HEADS!'

Stardust shrunk back a little bit. Turtle took Stardust as his little brother, albeit in the beginning it was the other way around. He looked up to his animus touched SeaWing big bro, and always felt disappointed if he had somehow displeased him, which usually never happened since Stardust was a good kid. Turtle paced back and forth and back and forth again, rambling about the what-ifs and the should-haves, some reasonable and some…

'WHAT IF YOUR _EYES_ FLEW OUT OF YOUR _SKULL_?! WHAT IF THERE'S DRAGONS ON THE MOON THAT WANT TO _KILL_ YOU?! WHAT IF YOU GOT ABDUCTED BY DRAGONS FROM ANOTHER… WHATEVER AND WE NEVER SAW YOU AGAIN?! WHAT IF, THE _MOONS_ WEREN'T _**MOONS**_ BUT REALLY _**GIANT SPACE CREATURES**_ THAT… THAT-'

Stopping mid step and turning the locket to his face, he stared into it. A single tear containing a whole lot of fear mixed with anger welled in his eyes.

' _WHAT IF WE NEVER SAW YOU AGAIN?!'_

Turtle heard nothing back. After waiting a bit, he turned the locket back over to see it propped up on a rock somewhere, tilted to see Stardust sitting down silently gazing at the sky.

'Stardust…?'

His voice seemed a bit farther away, but still audible. '...I'm sorry… I should've thought it through a bit more, you're right… I'm sorry big brother.'

Turtle sighed, finally calming down. 'Hey… I'm sorry for getting so mad, I just… Kinda snapped…''

Stardust still fixed his gaze to the stars. 'It's okay, I understand why you'd be angry…'

Before Turtle could respond, Stardust continued.

'But Turtle… Have you ever felt a pull so strong you couldn't fight it?' Stardust turned around and padded to the locket, looking to it as if he were speaking to Turtle. 'You ever have a part of you floating out there somewhere, just out of reach? Turtle this is where I'm meant to be… Out here… I just couldn't wait any longer… I'm... I'm sorry...'

Turtle, understanding that feeling fully, sighed again and flopped to the floor. 'You're right, out there is your home Stardust, and we can't keep you from it. I mean… Would've been nice to be there personally to make sure you were okay, but… In the end it would've been better for you to do it yourself.' He cleared his throat, getting a little choked up.

'You just scared me… Y'know?'

Stardust nodded softly. 'I know… and I apologize, I didn't mean to.'

Turtle smiled to himself. 'It's okay Stardust, I know you didn't mean to.' Before Stardust could continue, Turtle did. 'But, you know how paranoid and anxious I get over stuff like that right?'

Stardust finally smiled again, this time to himself, looking directly to Turtle. 'I do, but honestly some things you come up with are just… Come _on._ I mean, "Eyes popping out of my skull"?'

Getting huffy, Turtle stood up just to make himself feel bigger. 'Hey, that very well could've happened! The higher up you go, the less pressure there is! One High Altitude Flyer once went up so high, that his left eye ACTUALLY DID pop out, so don't call me crazy!'

It didn't help Turtle's anxiety seeing Stardust literally rolling along the floor. 'Why do you know this?! How on earth did you get that information?!'

Turtle prided himself. 'I'm a writer. Writer's have to know these things.'

Stardust gave Turtle a sarcastically quizzical look, one not meant for bashing but for being silly. 'And WHY would a writer have to know ANYTHING like that?'

Turtle shoots you, the audience, a knowing and exasperated look, and then looks back to Stardust.

'Y'know what, never mind. Just… You're okay?'

Stardust nodded. 'I'm okay, I promise.'

Turtle nodded. 'Alright, good. Come back home soon okay? Or Tsunami will REALLY have our heads.'

Stardust chuckled, hiding a plethora of 'Oh moons she probably will' anxiety. He nodded nonetheless.

'I will, don't worry.'

Turtle nodded to himself. 'Thank you. Now uhm… Can you close your locket?'

'What? Why?'

'I told Webs I have to relieve myself, and I kinda do…'

'Oh. Okay, seeya big bro. Love ya!'

Stardust closed the locket, as did Turtle. As Turtle went closer to the river, Tsunami turned the corner.

"TURTLE! Why aren't you in class?"

Turtle froze up, slowly turning to face Tsunami. 'Oh moons.'

 **-X-**

After Stardust decided to stop lounging around and stare at the stars, he stood up and stretched some.

'Okay… Now, question is, can I fly on the moon?'

He stepped back, and took a running start with a few flaps of his wings which took him up quite far; far enough to send him careening through the air, unable to right himself.

'whoAHKAY'

*POOMF*

Another crash landing in the sandy dunes.

Sitting back up and shaking himself off, he grunted in determination; unphased he went off with a grand flap of the wings, sending him soaring into the skies. He kept going, steadying himself rather uneasily.

'okayokay, I got this. Just, glide, and-'

As he descended, the atmosphere was too thin to glide on, and not saturated enough to gain anymore upwards momentum.

*PHFOOF*

'Urgh…'

Again, he sat up and shook himself off.

'I am GETTING OFF this moon, dang it!'

This time, he used only his fore and back legs to jump up as high as he could. Surprisingly, he rose even higher than he did with his wings.

'rrg… That's not working.'

Concentrating his energy again, he jumped up and warped directly ahead of him, shooting off to the next moon, this one red. Arriving just before he hit the sand, this time he had time to brace and make a solid landing on his feet.

'haHA!' Stardust looked around, seeing this moon was mostly the same, save for the different colored sand. The climate seemed warmer, despite the lack of... well climate. The sand beneath his talons rather hot to the touch and fact, the sand covering the surface seemed to be much more than on the yellow moon.

Shrugging it off, he looked towards the blue moon nearby, and jumped into a warp towards it. Landing just like last time, he instead fell into water.

*PSHLOOSH*

He paddled up, poking his head above water and swimming to a nearby shoreline. He shook the water off as he finally crawled up and out, and spread his wings out to catch the sun; considering the water was nearly freezing, it was surprising Stardust didn't freeze entirely.

'Geez, I didn't know the moons had oceans!'

Warming himself back up, he felt his paws sink into the clay-like material below. The landscape of the entire moon was porous, pock marked by pools of cold water and craters turned into lakes. In the distance, a huge slope into a giant ocean of still blue water.

'Woah… Big difference.'

Stardust sighed, sitting down and flapping his wings to dry himself off, concentrated on himself and what he could do.

'Alright… Gotta be a better way to do this, instead of just zipping everywhere like that.'

He noticed his wings, the pattern still spiralling and pulsating. 'Maybe I'm focusing my power in the wrong place.'

Concentrating his power around him again, he tried directing it to his wings. He spread them and held them directed behind him, feeling some sort of energy swirling forth. He couldn't see exactly what was happening, but he could sense the ground beneath him giving out, being levitated up into the thin air.

Opening his eyes, faint waves of multi color distortion constantly jetted out from his wings and pushed him off the ground. His concentration faded, but the flow of power continued.

'YO, THATS _SICK_!'

Stardust twisted in the air effortlessly, floating around in different directions by tilting his wings one way or the other, each action came intuitively and naturally.

Deciding to test just how far he could go with this, he gave a pulse of power to his new thrusters, sending him barreling down the ocean's surface, leaving a wake of waves in his path. The sound of constant distorted thrumming pulsed in his ears, only getting him more and more excited.

'THIS IS AMAZING!'

He tilted his wings downwards, propelled into the space above. Tucking in his legs, he formed himself into a speeding bullet and sped out of orbit almost thrice as fast.

'How have I never done this before?! This is the best thing EVER'

Speeding around the three moons, Stardust flew around like a comet gone wild. For a good few hours he zipped around, racing against nothing as fast as his new found powers would take him.

It took him until the continent he recognized started to drift out of sight into the sun's direct gaze that he finally stopped. He flew into an orbit around the planet, staying directly above Pyrrhia while he lounged in orbit motionlessly. Keeping his wings out, he gazed down below, remembering his family and friends fondly.

He turned to look above, the stars and galaxies shining down and gracing the skies. How different they compared to each other…

A sense of identity always seemed to emanate from the starry skies above, but now that he looked at it? So did the blue/green planet below. These parallels couldn't have been farther from each other, and caused a great rift in the young dragon's heart.

For almost an entire hour, Stardust meditated floating in the silence of space; a satellite of the planet, lost in thought endlessly. His brain addled with future decisions and contrasting paths to take, he felt more lost up here than he did down there.

'I have to find who I am, but… If I do, will I ever come back? Will I ever find my way home?'

The world around him, the world in front of him, the world inside of him: all were different. All three yearned for something different. How could he ever fulfill all of them? Maybe he couldn't, maybe he wasn't meant to.

'Maybe I'll find out who I really am, who I'm meant to be. Maybe the dragons who left me here would come back…'

The somber what-ifs and would've/could've/should'ves filled his mind, until finally he snapped himself out of it. He turned back to Pyrrhia.

'I may never know… But I know what I have right now, and I won't let it go.' The warm thoughts of family and friends moved him to return home.

' _Ever_.'

Contented and sentimental, Stardust thrusted himself back to the planet's atmosphere.

 **-X-**

Stardust landed at Jade Mountain's main entrance. Classes were let out, the students bustling around the halls. Stardust picked out of the small crowd a particular green SeaWing.

"Turtle!"

Turtle spun around, both surprised and relieved by Stardust's presence.

"Hey!"

The two hugged it out and smiled ear to ear.

"I'm sorry again for freaking you out, I missed you…"

Turtle nosed his little brother's ears tenderly.

"Me too, and I apologize for freaking out so much. I should trust you more..."

Stardust was about to go into this long speech about how he felt he belonged here more than anywhere else, but before he could Turtle interrupted again.

"BUT I HAVE TO TELL YOU: I had to tell Tsunami that you went to space because she caught me outside, and then she told **PERIL** and-"

As if on cue, Tsunami and Peril turned the corner, just in time to see the two. Immediately, a fire lit behind both their eyes, Peril almost literally.

" _ **STARDUST**_ **!" "You are in** _ **SO**_ **MUCH TROUBLE**!"

Stardust chuckled in terror, turning to Turtle whose face turned a few shades whiter. The two met eyes briefly, Stardust speaking first.

"Run?"

"Run."

Seeing the two angry mother figures barreling after them, they met eyes again.

" _ **R U N**_ "

The two careened away, being chased all over the mountain and generally causing a huge ruckus.

But in all honesty, _Stardust wouldn't have had it any other way._

 **-X-**

General Tau sat at the navigation station, doing routine checks of the comm equipment whilst sipping her hot caffeinated beverage. King Orion Galaxy stepped in, Tau and Orion being the only two dragons in the room.

"What's the ETA Tau?"

Tau pulled up a galactic chart on the holographic screen rather sleepily. The grand countdown listed ETA as 0.04702 GCs (Galactic Cycles, Approximately 5 months, 21 days, 2 hours).

"Hrmfff… What's our cruising speed?"

Tau pulled up the General Engine Data sheet.

"153.08 AUs/MGC, running through 1.56x1019 mols of stellar matter per MGC." Pulling several star charts across the screens, Tau cross referenced their current curved warp path with nearby constellations.

"Based on our current trajectory, we can bump up the warp factor to 230.79 AU's/MGC, factoring in the microtrails of stellar matter we can pick up along the way."

Orion looked pleasantly surprised. "Reading minds huh? I think I prefer you over Fornax.~"

Tau beamed a tired smile, adjusting said factors as the SM Engines' hum rose to a higher and more resonant thrum.

Orion settled into the General's central seat, looking to the holographic projection which he had pulled up the data from their destination.

"Anymore data bounce back yet?"

Tau shrugged. "I haven't had time to check, I'll look right now."

Orion's sharp eyes, a barrage of oranges, blues and violets, glossed over the data for what had to have been the thousandth time. No changes, however the signal had been moving around a central continent and flying above it, so it was safe to assume the source of the emission was a dragon.

"I just hope it's him…"

Tau, having reviewed the new data, found herself woken up again, her blue/green scales lighting up intensely as she nearly stumbled over herself.

"Sir, you need to seE-" She actually DID stumble over herself, falling flat on her face. Orion helped her up, which she promptly bowed and returned to the screen.

"...you need to see this."

Throwing a globbed information tracker to the screen, a single flashing dot appeared on the overlay of the chart. This was the dragon they were tracking.

"Okay, flying at high altitudes. We don't know if…"

The dot started breaching what should have been the atmosphere of that planet. In fact it kept going further.

"...What scans can we take of the planet?"

Tau presented a few she had taken earlier. "Metallurgy, energy signatures, any tech that could breach their atmosphere would've shown up."

Reviewing them briefly, not a single trace of heavily refined metals or technological advancement had shown up. And yet… the source of the energy had now _warped_ through space on it's own. The scales on the back of Orion's neck stood on end.

"Oh my stars…"

Totally transfixed by the dot jumping around, Queen Aries Pulsar came in rather concernedly.

"Orion, is everything alright? I felt your heart drop, what's..."

Aries simply turned to the screen, seeing the dot representing their son fly around in space unsupported. The two were in shock and amazement.

"My boy…"

Orion suddenly stared at Tau with the intent and determined glare of a father who wanted nothing more than to get to his son.

"Ramp up the velocity to 500 AUs/MGC, the plan has changed." Orion manually changed the coordinate trajectory to follow a straight line, taking them through a dangerous solar system of binary Neutron Stars.

"But, sir-" Tau protested, but seeing the look on the faces of her two leaders, she sighed and nodded. "Aye. I'll work out a fuel plan."

Calculating all this in, the ETA dropped down to merely 0.01285 GC, barely two months. Orion held Aries to him lovingly.

"My queen… we're going to have our son back."

Aries took a deep breath and confided herself in Orion's arms. "He's learning so fast… He could very well have killed himself but, he's got your tenacity.~"

Orion smiled to himself, now intensely eager to meet his estranged son.

Together, the two watched intently as proud parents on their way halfway across the galaxy to get to their precious lost one.

 **-X-**

Dark figures swirled around the dirty and partially destroyed ship, dressed in cloaks and rugged with scars from past battles. A particular tall dragon with red and yellow scales down his mostly covered back jogged down the beaten and steaming hallways, up to a heavily marked yet prominent door.

The door slid open smoothly, his queenly figurehead sitting at the back lit planning table.

She fully clothed herself, capes and cloaks abounding her body. Not a single color to be seen, her head was enveloped in a glowing, sleek black helmet with white neon lines trailing down to give the appearance of a minimalist face.

"My liege, news of the fleet."

The red and yellow dragon handed a glowing pad to his queen. She looked it over, then with a heavy sigh she tossed it aside onto the floor. In her heavily vocoded and distorted voice, she spoke.

" **Prep the Crew.** "

The red and yellow dragon nearly flinched, but persisted. "For what your majesty?"

She stopped, turning her head just enough to face him.

" **They've found him... I thought we'd have more time but he's progressed too fast...** "

She immediately turned back around to head to her quarters.

" **We MUST reach him before they do.** "


End file.
